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External hard drive for mini

Chad H

Chad H

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 13, 2008
764
0
Auburn, AL
Hey guys,
I was wondering which external hard drive you suggested for the mini and where to purchase it? I am looking for something around 320GB. Something for iTunes and photo's. I appreciate any advice

-Chad
 
I like the NewerTech Ministack from OWC:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

Works great, has Firewire 400 and USB, and comes in lots of different sizes - including one where you can add your own drive. This is the cheaper V2, but there is also a V3 that has eSata and Firewire 800 ports, although I am not sure how you would eSata on a Mac...
 
aross99 said:
I like the NewerTech Ministack from OWC:
Click to expand...

I have two v2 MS and both are noisy (yes, I've checked the thermal probes). That's the problem with plastic enclosures - insufficient heat sink.

Works great, has Firewire 400 and USB, and comes in lots of different sizes - including one where you can add your own drive. This is the cheaper V2, but there is also a V3 that has eSata and Firewire 800 ports, although I am not sure how you would eSata on a Mac...
Click to expand...

Well, if he planned on getting a new iMac, Mac Pro or MacBook Pro those options would be nice. Still, I'm done buying plastic enclosures. Aluminum is well worth the price for the silence of the units.
 
Well to be honest I would like to have something that sits under the mini or something discrete. Firewire or USB, doesn't really matter to me though.
 
I have a cpl of these:

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5217547

Fanless, very quiet, aluminum enclosure, FW and USB.

If you have a Frys close by you can usually get this for a bit cheaper. Or, there is a USB only version that is about $110-120. I was just there yesterday and saw it for $119 and change.

Edit - just checked the site, here that is http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5030945?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I also saw this one there and I really liked. Has FW800, like to see how fast transfer rates are with that.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5517070?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
 
Chad H said:
I was wondering which external hard drive you suggested for the mini
and where to purchase it? I am looking for something around 320GB.
Click to expand...

I'd strongly suggest buying the external enclosure and drive separately.
That way, you know what drive you're buying -- plus it's often cheaper,
and you get the benefit of the drive manufacturer's 3-5 year warranty.

Here's Newegg's highest-rated USB/FW400 enclosure; it also gets rave
reviews from many online reviewers. It's aluminum, fanless, and by far
the easiest-to-assemble enclosure anywhere -- just four screws attach
the drive to the quick-swap slide-in drive tray; no messing with cables
or connectors.

Icy Dock -- USB/FW400 enclosure @ $45

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=986&pageID=2689

Add whatever SATA hard drive you like -- 320 GB should be about $75,
500GB about $100. Check Newegg for prices, and tomshardware.com
for performance benchmarks. Don't buy more capacity than you expect
to need in the next 12-18 months; drive prices are dropping rapidly,
and it's easy to upgrade the Icy Dock enclosure. You can even buy an
extra slide-in drive tray and swap drives in less than 1 minute.

Icy Dock -- extra drive tray @ $19.

OWC enclosures also have a good rep, but many of them are still based
on obsolete IDE drives. OWC's SATA-based enclosures tend to be their
more expensive "quad" models with FW800 and eSATA interfaces -- but
FW800 and eSATA interfaces are useless with a Mac Mini.

LK
 
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I've had a handful of externals, and luckily, I've never had any trouble with any of them <knocks on wood>.

From what I read and heard, hard drives usually act up right out of the box if they're going to malfunction. For that reason, I'd advise getting one out of a box store instead of online.
 
Sigh... do people ever search before posting?

Try the Newer Tech MiniStack v3. I have 2 of them.

EDIT: P.S. - I don't think they are too noisy.
 
fhall1 said:
How about this one?

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HC-3502H&cat=CSE
Click to expand...

Not bad for $19 -- IF you have an obsolete IDE drive around --
but it would be a very bad idea to buy an IDE-based enclosure
for a new drive.

The world switched to SATA several years ago, and IDE drives are
rapidly becoming less available and more expensive. For example,
newegg.com currently lists 8 IDE drives versus 50+ SATA drives
in the 500GB-and-up size range.

LK
 
Leon Kowalski said:
Not bad for $19 -- IF you have an obsolete IDE drive around --
but it would be a very bad idea to buy an IDE-based enclosure
for a new drive.

The world switched to SATA several years ago, and IDE drives are
rapidly becoming less available and more expensive. For example,
newegg.com currently lists 8 IDE drives versus 50+ SATA drives
in the 500GB-and-up size range.

LK
Click to expand...

You act like IDE is impossible to find and wont work even if you do. Color me stupid, but IDE will be around a while yet, even if most things have moved on to SATA. No need to worry about 10yrs down the road.
 
Iomega Hard Drive

Check this out at the Apple Online Store. It's made to sit on top of the Mac Mini:
Iomega 500GB MiniMax Desktop Hard Drive

Barry
 
VoodooDaddy said:
Was at BestBuy yesterday. They had a 750gb Mybook with USB/FW 400/800 I swear for $170ish?? However, Im not seeing that on their site.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Mybooks are really nice and quiet and quite small too - although they won't fit right under your mini.
 
Cave Man said:
Why would you recommend the V3 to someone who only has FW400 and USB?.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't I? Why limit your connection capabilities? Maybe he will want to use the enclosure with another computer someday that has fw800 or eSATA.

Cave Man said:
On my V2s, the fans are on most of the time. Kind of defeats the purpose of the silent Mini.
Click to expand...

Those are v2s. I have v3s. I don't have a problem with the fans being too loud or on all the time on mine. Ever heard of "to each their own?" :rolleyes:
 
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